Francis "Frank" Hubardt was a German immigrant and during
the Civil War he served under General Custer in the Union Army.
This young general had a spectacular record and was greatly admired
by his men. When Francis Hubardt came to this country he Americanized
his last name and changed it to Hubbard and preferred to be called
Frank Hubbard. After the war was over, Frank and his brother,
Alexander Hubbard, came down the Mississippi River. Alexander
was a gambler and won a lot of money. Frank trapped to support
his family. On June 25, 1876 General Custer was killed at Little
Big Horn in Montana in the campaign against the Sioux Indians.
Soon after that Frank Hubbard went into a saloon somewhere in Mississippi
where some man informed him that General Custer had been killed and
he was glad that he was dead. There was an argument and a fight
and Frank Hubbard killed the man. That night Frank Hubbard loaded
up his family and started out for Texas. They went to Windom,
a town near Bonham, Texas. In the late 1800's they moved to
Bowie County and bought a farm at Godley Prairie. Now there
was another Hubbard family living here at the time that came to Bowie
County in the 1850's; the James Hubbard family does not appear to
be related to the Frank Hubbard family.
Francis "Frank" Hubbard, 1848-1900, married Mary Taylor.
They are buried at Red Bayou Cemetery. There is a marker at
his grave and there used to be a wooden post marking hers. Their
ten children were:
1. Maggie, who married a Burnett and then a Hill and is buried in
Fannin County, Texas
2. Joseph Henry, 1872-1942, married Bessie Lucas
3. Lottie, who married Bud Graham
4. Nettie, 1876-1900, married Edgar Graham
5. John who married Fannie ___. She raised their family down
near Lufkin while he traveled about as a hobo
6. Edna, 1880-1927, married Walter McGee.
7. Alexander, who married Vesta Coleman
8. Chloe, married Dolphin D Hayes. They lived at Colorado City
in West Texas
9. Olivia, married Ollie Bodine
10. Eva, married first Berry King and second Edgar Graham. She
and her first husband are buried at Magnolia Cemetery.
Lusher Hubbard, son of Joseph Henry Hubbard and Bessie Lucas and
grandson of Frank Hubbard, gave much of the information in this article.
When Lusher Hubbard was a young man, he graduated from Ray's Auto
School in Kansas City, Missouri. He had one year of college
and taught school for two years. He taught school one year at
Minton, near Maud, Texas and the second year at New Ground south of
DeKalb. His salary was $65 a month. He boarded with Rush
Clawson when he taught at New Ground. After that, he wanted
to join the Navy to fight in WWI so he went to Dallas to sign up.
They wouldn't take him so he went down to Houston to try again.
They turned him down because one of his feet had been injured when
he dropped a stick of firewood on it when he was younger. His
mother wrote to him and said his brother Reuben Hubbard and died and
he was needed at home. Lusher went home and helped his father
with the crop and then went to Texarkana to join the army. It
was in November of 1918. Lusher Hubbard and 22 others joined
the army in Texarkana and got on a train for Fort Crockett in Galveston.
At one point the train pulled over on the siding and sat there for
4 1/2 hours, then it started back to Texarkana. When they arrived
at Texarkana, they were told that the war was over and they were no
longer needed and they were given two days pay. His is the only
one of the group still living and thinks that must be a record for
the shortest length of time to serve in the army.
Lusher is one of seven children born to Joseph Henry Hubbard and
Bessie Lucas. Lusher mother was the daughter of John Mitchell
Lucas, who was born in Pennsylvania and served in the Union Army during
the Civil war. After the war he was stationed in Washington,
D C when Lincoln was shot. The children of Joseph Henry Hubbard and
Bessie Lucas were:
1. William Lusher, born 1897 in Bowie County, Texas and married Lillie
McGee
2. Richard Maxwell, 1899-1918, buried in Ring Wood Cemetery, no children
3. Reuben Roy, 1901-1918, buried at Ring Wood Cemetery, no children
4. Clifford Curtis, married Faye Copeland. They moved to Lamesa,
Texas in 1923 and he died in the 1950's
5. Walter Watt, married Vesta Ballew. They lived in Lamesa
6. Madge Elizabeth, married Authur Shepherd. They lived at Colorado
City, Texas and he was a retired college professor
7. Fred, born in 1914 and married Laurie Davis. They lived at
Lamesa, Texas